A receipt journal printer of a Point-of-Sale (POS) prints on rolled paper and cuts the printed paper (a medium such as paper ejected from a medium processing apparatus such as a printer is hereinafter called "ejected medium" regardless of whether it is printed or not) using a cutter.
When the ejected medium, outputted from a printer, is short in length, it stays on a top cover of the printer without dropping down to the back of the printer. However, when the ejected medium is very long as shown in FIG. 11, it drops down to the back of the printer.
An account statement printed in a receipt journal printer of POS at the end of daily business is often as long as 50 cm and drops down to the back of the printer when the ejected medium is cut upon completion of printing. Because the account statement printed at the end of daily business takes a long time to print, it was desired that it was printed without operator attendance, but it had to be watched by an operator to prevent the medium from dropping down to the back of the housing of the printer.
Relating to such a problem of the eject mechanism of a printer, PUPA4-226776 discloses, in its first embodiment, a provision of a forward eject guide in the medium eject exit so as to have the ejected medium drop in the front of the printer housing to prevent it from dropping to the back of the printer. Also, the second embodiment of the same PUPA discloses a provision of a medium take-up guide in the medium eject exit so as to take up the medium to prevent it from dropping to the back of the printer.
However, because such guide is of a structure protruding from the housing of a printer, use entails the following drawbacks:
1. It hinders exchanges with customers when giving change or receiving money. PA1 2. It can be easily damaged. PA1 3. An item cannot be put on the printer (especially when the printer is in operation). PA1 4. The ejected medium curls toward the printed surface to make the printed content invisible or unreadable. PA1 5. The appearance design of printer is largely restricted. PA1 6. The ejected medium drops to the front and may be stained in the forward eject guide. It is not easy to take out the ejected medium in the medium take up guide.